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Two rhinos translocated to Manas Wildlife Sanctuary

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Two rhinos, a mother and a female calf, were translocated on 29 December from the Pobitora wildlife sanctuary to Manas wildlife sanctuary in western Assam, India under the Indian Rhino Vision (IRV) 2020 programme, along with WWF-India and the Assam Forest Department.

With this, the rhino population in Manas, a site inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1985, has gone up to seven. The rhino population in this national park was wiped out during a decade-long insurgency, the victim of poaching between 1989 and 1992. Uncertainty over the status of the rhino and other species led to the World Heritage Committee's decision to inscribe this site on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1992.

As wildlife knows no boundaries, these two contiguous parks have already started working on transboundary conservation. For this translocation, both rhinos were transported in truck from Pobitora under security. The rhinos have been released by a specially trained team and will be observed very closely for the next few hours. The animals have been fitted with radio collars and will be monitored continuously for the next year by the staff of Manas National Park with support from members of WWF India. They will provide regular updates and a monitoring report will be submitted in six months to the translocation core committee.